2020 Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag/Mid-Year Roundup

I’m not really in the habit of doing book tags (too many reviews to write, too little time!) but for this one I decided to make an exception. For one thing, I think it serve as a great jumping off point for a mid-year roundup post, featuring some pretty interesting categories that are fun to think about.

So here we go!

Best Books I’ve Read So Far

Oof, this is a tough one. I’m limiting each category to three books, so I’ve narrowed it down to these…

Best Sequels I’ve Read So Far

…and good thing I can spread the love by giving sequels their own category!

New Releases I Haven’t Read (But Want To)

Ha, take your pick from my huuuuge list of new books I want to read but haven’t gotten to yet! So I’m just going to pull the top three from the past month or so.

Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of the Year

Another tough category! Using the UK Rhythm of War cover as a placeholder until Tor releases theirs.

Biggest Disappointments

This is a list I never like to make, but I can’t deny there were more than few books this year that didn’t live up to my expectations.

Biggest Surprises

On the flip side, these are some of the books I didn’t have many expectations for, but they ended up blowing me away!

Favorite New Authors

Some more authors to add to my must-read list.

Favorite Characters

Since I don’t do fictional crushes, I’ve changed these next two questions to favorite characters/least favorite characters. Favorite new characters: Roberto from Cries From the Lost Island, and Noemí Taboada from Mexican Gothic, Alessandra from The Shadows Between Us.

Least Favorite Characters

Least favorite new characters: Jelt from Deeplight, Frances from The Age of Witches, and Audrey from Follow Me (great book, but the protagonist was an annoying idiot).

Saddest/Emotionally Heavy Books

This category was originally “Books The Made Me Cry” but since nothing has met the requirement so far this year, I modified it slightly.

Authors With a Great Sense of Humor

Again, this category was modified from “Books That Made Me Happy” because I don’t think anything this year I’ve read can be classified pure “happy happy joy joy” books. But the following authors have a great sense of humor, and you see a lot of that energy transferred to their books as well.

Media Tie-Ins/Books I’d Love To See Made Into Movies

This category is originally “Best Book To Film Adaptation”, but I don’t get to watch TV or go to the movies as much as I would like to these days…but I do read a crap ton of media tie-ins and there are quite a few books I’d like to see adapted.

Favorite Post

Hmm, I mostly write reviews on this blog, along with the odd meme and update, so I don’t know if I really have a favorite post. I did, however, have a lot of fun putting together those “A-Z” type lists! Here’s Favorite Books A-Z, Favorite Science Fiction A-Z for Sci-Fi Month, and also Top Ten Tuesday: One to Ten!

Prettiest Books I Received This Year

Feast your eyes!

Books I Need to Read By the End of the Year

A lot! Too many to name here, really. But if you want to see a complete list of 2020 must-read releases I’ve got my eye on, you can always check out my “Most Anticipated” posts. Here’s the one from January to March, the one from April to June, and the one from July to September. I do plan on trying to read most of them! 😛

Overall it’s been a good first half of 2020, considering. I’m glad I got to highlight a lot of books!